BOSTON - May, 08, 2013 – The Patrick-Murray Administration encourages residents to join their neighbors and colleagues to bicycle during Bay State Bike Week, May 11-19, 2013, which celebrates bicycle transportation. Bicycling organizations, neighborhood groups and local governments have planned hundreds of diverse community-based events across the Commonwealth to show that bicycling can be a fun, healthy, safe and sustainable travel choice.

“I applaud the bicyclists who ride to school or work regularly, and I encourage more people to give it a try,” said Governor Deval Patrick. "Together, we can make Massachusetts a greener, healthier and more sustainable state by decreasing traffic congestion, cleaning the air and enabling people to get some exercise in the course of their busy daily lives.”

Massachusetts in 2013 has been recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as the 6th most “bicycle friendly” state. In addition, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) remains the only state DOT in the nation to actively organize and lead a statewide Bike Week celebration. To successfully accomplish this, MassDOT has worked in partnership with the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition (MassBike), the statewide bicycle education and advocacy group, as well as MassRIDES, the Commonwealth’s statewide travel options program.

“MassDOT’s support for bicycle transportation, coupled with Massachusetts residents’ enthusiasm for bicycling, have yielded significant gains in terms of bicycles on the street, cars off the street, and pounds off our waistlines,” said MassDOT Secretary and CEO Richard Davey. “Bay State Bike Week is a great way for MassDOT and MassBike to kick off the springtime riding season, and encourage some new riders to give biking a try. And we deeply appreciate the work that each event organizer and community does to host events throughout the Commonwealth. All of these events help to support MassDOT’s GreenDOT sustainability policy, and help us achieve our mode shift goal of tripling the levels of bicycling, walking, and transit ridership throughout the Commonwealth by 2030.”

In addition to community-wide events, the 11 Massachusetts Transportation Management Associations (TMAs) are presenting the 18th annual MassCommute Bicycle Challenge. This friendly competition will challenge employers, schools and communities to see who can log the most miles by bicycle. For more information, visit www.masscommutebicyclechallenge.org

Individuals and groups can participate by signing up at www.BayStateBikeWeek.org to find out more about workshops, group rides, children’s events, bicycle races and other activities across Massachusetts.

To learn more about Bay State Bike Week and for information about current bicycling projects in your area visit www.mass.gov/massdot/bike.

A strong commitment to bicycle and pedestrian travel is a key part of MassDOT’s transportation vision. Traveling by the healthy transportation modes of walking, bicycling and public transit reduces traffic congestion, improves Massachusetts air quality and promotes healthy lifestyles.

For transportation news and updates visit MassDOT at our website: www.mass.gov/massdot, blog: www.mass.gov/blog/transportation, or follow MassDOT on twitter at www.twitter.com/massdot and Facebook at www.facebook.com/massdotinfo.